Innocent’s Head of Circular Economy: rPET-Bio PET combination is key amid sustainability drive

28 Feb 2019 --- On the final day of Packaging Innovations 2019, PackagingInsights caught up with Louise Stevens, Head of Circular Economy at Innocent Drinks, to discuss how a company founded on “mindful” ideals is working to push the boundaries of sustainability further. Notably, this includes Innocent’s journey towards the development of plastic bottles made from 100 percent renewable sources by 2022 by combining rPET and Bio PET – sugarcane bi-product, for example. At the show, Stevens presented insights into what the plastics circular economy looks like for the company, raising a healthy debate about how to square off plastic pollution and climate change.

This year's show comes amid a a national atmosphere of rising societal concern around sustainable packaging, as well as a more stringent regulatory environment surrounding the use of plastics in particular. Only last week, the UK government launched a series of consultations with the aim of “overhauling the waste system.” The consultations will include the proposed Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, improvements in the consistency of household recycling and a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for cans and bottles. As the industry moves forward in these fluctuating times, a keener eye for sustainable design may be essential.

PackagingInsights: In 2007, Innocent made a 100 percent recycled plastic bottle, but realized “it wasn’t very sustainable in the long run.” What was the reason for this and how have you adapted your packaging sustainability strategy since?
Stevens: The quality simply wasn’t there, but rPET has come a long way since then. When we decided to reduce the rPET content in 2011, it was coupled with a greater understanding of the plastics’ circular economy, namely that plastic cannot be endlessly recycled, so there is a need to find other sustainable virgin feedstocks to compliment the rPET.

PackagingInsights: By 2022 you plan to make plastic bottles from 100 percent renewable sources. What is the latest on your progress?
Stevens: Our latest progress is our smoothie bottle made from 50 percent rPET and 15 percent robust Bio PET (which is fully recyclable and chemically identical to PET). There are some technical challenges, however, which include the continued development of the bio-PET coupled with sourcing enough good quality rPET. Our latest and most sustainable bottle contains 15 percent plant material where the bio-element is made from a sugar-cane bi-product. We are also investigating paper straw routes to take with our kids’ cartons.

PackagingInsights: Do you have any concerns that the rising tide of anti-plastic sentiment will turn consumers off Innocent’s plastic (PET) packaged products?
Stevens: We have been having some constructive discussions about plastics with our drinkers. Some people are understandably concerned, but we’ve found that we’ve been able to really help educate them on the nature of the plastics issue and what we’re doing about it.

We are also founding members of the UK Plastics Pact, within which we are engaging in a number of collective action groups including those focusing on citizen engagement and recyclability. Our target also includes eliminating problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic packaging through redesign, innovation or alternative (re-use) delivery models and achieving a 30 percent average recycled content across all plastic packaging.

PackagingInsights: Innocent uses a number of materials, including PET, cartonboard and aluminum across its different pack types. Why have you never used glass?Louise Stevens, Head of Circular Economy at Innocent Drinks.
Stevens: Glass has an inherently higher carbon footprint and as such we have avoided using it. We have strict climate change targets as a business, using the SBTi (Science-Based Targets initiative) methodology and we will meet them by increasing the levels of sustainable plastic content in our bottles. Glass would be a backward step weighing in at three times the global warming potential of our 30 percent rPET bottles. We also have a lightweighting program in place, focusing this year on our larger formats.

Packaging Innovations – the UK’s biggest annual packaging show – hosted the Big Plastics Debate yesterday, which was anticipated to take center stage as industry expert discussions transitioned from “what the industry can do” to “what it has actually now done,” especially in light of more challenging UK government regulations.

PackagingInsights also spoke to Joanna Stephenson, Managing Director of PHD Marketing, on the floor of the show. Stephenson is calling for a “holistic approach” to the problems plaguing the waste industry, which prioritizes consumer education, improved infrastructure and designed-in recyclability. She also stressed that packaging is a “green technology” that must do more to market itself coherently as a sustainable benefit to society.

By Joshua Poole

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